Dead State beta released, adds a lot to the game

DoubleBear has announced that the Dead State beta is now live. If you have Dead State on Steam, it should automatically update.

Considering the previously available version only offered the first seven days or so of the game, this… contains a lot more. The email lists the following (as well as “a whole lot more cool stuff!”).

75+ new locations

30+ new allies

500+ new dialogues

Crisis events

New enemy types & factions

Vehicle travel

Skill perks

Ally traits

Thrown weapons

Data system (basic)

Dog allies and enemies

Special weapons

Neutral encounters

Tutorial elements

Pause menu

New save & load screens

New goals

Allies tracker on Goals screen

Fence attacks

New jobs

Shelter upgrades

Okay, yes, so barring “shelter upgrades” it’s mostly the stuff at the start that’s exciting, but that’s a hell of a lot more game than was in there before.

DoubleBear really want you to know that this is still far from finished, though. “The idea behind the open beta is to expose as much content to you as we possibly can and get your feedback on both design and technical issues before we release,” the email states, but it “doesn’t include all the final story, dialogues, or levels.”

Known issues and things due for improvement include the AI, the dialogue, the scripting, the pathfinding, the combat, the crashing and hard-locking, save corruption bugs, extra polish on levels (which may be missing scripting, loot, enemies, or more), a lot of perks… etc. So yes, what’s here is a pretty big chunk of the game but it’s desperately unfinished. That’s why you’re there to beta test it, though! You point this stuff out and when it happens and how it happens, and then it hopefully won’t do that in the final release.

You can read the full update notes over on Steam. As previously mentioned, if you already own Dead State, the 220MB update should automatically download whenever you next sign in.